Tag Archives: Mexico

Spring Equinox in Las Labradas

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Many of you have asked for details about the spring equinox events this year in our World Heritage petroglyph site, Las Labradas. It is definitely growing and becoming more organized every year. Today the State Secretary of Tourism published this guide. You can search “Las Labradas” on this blog for driving instructions, details, photos and videos of past events. I am sooooo happy the local community is involved and beginning to benefit from this terrific event, and that it serves to preserve the heritage of this region.

For those of you who don’t read Spanish:

  • 9-10: Meditation and yoga
  • 9-2: Exposition and sale of organic products and regional handicrafts, guided tours, ulama (ancient ball game) demonstrations, natural medicine and individual cleansing (usually a curandero working with smoke and plants)
  • 11-11:30: Ribbon cutting/official opening
  • 11:30-12:30: Presentation of two books, “Las Labradas” and “The Tropic of Cancer” (History of southern Sinaloa)
  • 11-1: Mayan Dances—Yoreme ceremonial ritual
  • 1: Group cleansing
  • 1-5: Restaurant service in Chicayota pueblo with traditional meal including ballusa and maguey flower.

For those of you who would like transportation to and from, Sinaloa Adventures tour agency, tel 191-20-05 (Laura Purón) is offering two packages, priced at 225 pesos and 390 pesos respectively.

You Drive Us Wild We’ll Drive You Crazy

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We had a whole lot of fun this past Wednesday, March 6. Our gorgeous Angela Peralta Theater, venue for so many classical music performances, became host to… sit down and take a breath — a rock band!

It was a KISS tribute band called “Dynassty,” composed of four young Mexicans including two Mazatlecos (García and Barrón):

  1. Carlos García as Gene “The Demon” Simmons, vocals and bass
  2. Angel Barrón  as Ace “Space Man” Frehley, lead guitar and backing vocals
  3. Mijael Chaín as Paul “Starchild” Stanley, vocals and rhythm guitar
  4. Miguel Ángel Chain as Peter “Catman” Criss, drums and backing vocals

The boys in the band seemed a bit nervous at the start, or perhaps just low energy due to the large venue and the less-than-overwhelming turnout. I imagine they’re also used to performing in a bar, to a much rowdier crowd. So, the four of us (Greg and me, our son and niece—who took all these photos, Arely Hernández), along with many others in the crowd, turned up our own energy and the night ended up being awesome. What a treat to dance, sing and shout en familia, especially with our seventeen year old!

The guys’ costumes were incredible; whoever made them should really be commended. They all had those really tall platform boots, too, and it sure seemed tough walking around and rocking out in them. One of the guys told me he spends two to three hours getting his makeup put on prior to an event. The boys rocked hard, spit up fake blood, got on the floor to play, and even pretended to break a guitar. It was a whole lot of campy and a whole lot of fun.

PonchoOne of the best parts about any event here in Mazatlán, of course, is the chance to meet and greet some of the many famous people who call our city home. I was beside myself when I first met Ferrusquilla, and I am afraid I acted starstruck on Wednesday to finally be able to meet Poncho Lizárraga of Banda El Recodo. I have loved their music for so long, and shouted and danced at their concerts as well. He was very kind, and I just sort of stood there smiling. I guess it’s a good thing once in a while. I wanted to ask him and failed: “WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PLAY IN YOUR HOMETOWN AGAIN?” We haven’t seen them since they played in the bull ring during Carnavál three years ago!

Thank you, CULTURA. This was a far from typical Angela Peralta Theater event, and it was really enjoyable. And thank you and good luck, Dynassty!

I wanna rock and roll all night and party every day! Who’s with me?

My Return to Toddlerhood

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I think the above is pretty self-explanatory about my morning.

  1. I was teaching a class online, and the earpiece of my phone kept falling out. I was focused, so I kept pushing it back in, each time a little more assertively. When the class was over, I looked at my earpiece. It was broken! When did it break? THAT’s why it kept falling out of my ear! After playing with it a bit, I realized the rubber cap that covers the hard plastic earbud was missing. Where had it gone?
  2. After looking around my desk and on the floor, I realized that it was in my ear. I could feel something, very faintly, in there. It didn’t hurt, but I could feel it. I asked Greg to take a look. He didn’t see anything. Had to get a small flashlight. When he was finally able to see it, he said it was jammed pretty far into my ear canal. Oops! Klutz strikes again! I definitely felt like a toddler who’d shoved something up her nose, though in this case it was my ear.
  3. Greg lovingly got out the tweezers and agreed to try to pull it out. Each time he’d get hold of it, the little rubber thingamajig would push against my ear drum or something inside there, and it hurt like the dickens. It began to feel like I had an ELEPHANT stuck in my ear! After a few more tries at getting the rubber piece out, I was near tears it hurt so bad. What to do?

Our doctor wasn’t in yet; this happened prior to his office hours. A trip to the emergency room would be costly, and rather silly. I felt like a three year old, with a toy stuck in my ear. It was embarrassing. And I kept giggling; this all felt so silly.

What about Dr. Simi, the doctor in the pharmacy? Yes! We took a drive down the street and, through the beauty of medicine here in Mexico, we waited ten minutes while the doctor helped two people ahead of us in line.

I embarrassedly told the doctor what had happened. She took a look with her little lighted scope. She closed her eyes to think. She had me lie on my side and filled my ear with oxegenated water, hoping the rubber would float to the top, closer to the exit of my ear canal. No such luck; the darned thing was wedged in there. The water did soothe the pain a bit though. And we sure did have fun laughing about it all.

Finally, she took a long hook-like tool, and turned the rubber thingy around in my ear canal to get a better grasp. She was very, very gentle, but MAN did that hurt! Darned elephant! She grabbed the ear bud cap with a long tweezer-like tool, I winced audibly, and then she stopped. She didn’t want to hurt me. She wasn’t sure what to do. I begged her to yank it out, she obliged, and oilá. I was free! The elephant was out of my ear canal!

The whole operation cost 40 pesos. It took all of 25 minutes round trip from home to the doctor and back.

God bless Mexico. One more reason I love it here. No paperwork. Not even a signature. The doctor gave me a prescription for some ear drops, as she said it was a bit swollen in there.

You bet I’ll be more careful with those ear buds from now on! Please do the same. 😉

La Travesía Anual — Annual Community Swim from Playa Norte to Deer Island, Mazatlán

Club de Natación

Photo courtesy El Club de Natación Playa Norte

See those islands in the background of the photo above? Want to swim to the one in the middle, Isla de Venados/Deer Island? Think you can do it? It’s only 5.6 KILOMETERS of ocean swimming. Takes the average swimmer two to four hours. The best time in 2012 was ONE HOUR 20 MINUTES!

Every year on the first Sunday in November members of Mazatlán’s swim club (Club de Natación Playa Norte) do that very swim. This past November over 200 of them participated in this most wonderful Travesía Anual! Among the 200 swimmers who completed the event was an eight year old boy named José Luis Zazueta. I had the pleasure of interviewing Luisito this morning, along with his father (also Luis, a computer technician) and his swim teacher, Lourdes Ortega. Click on any of the photos below to view them larger and read the full captions.

Luisito Zazueta, at eight years old the youngest boy ever to complete the Travesía Anual, the 5.6 km swim to Deer Island, behind him in the photo.
Closeup of Luis’ too-cute toothless grin.
Lourdes (Lulu) with a few of her students. She runs a swimming school in Via Galaxia.

Luis Senior enrolled Luisito in lessons at a pool run by Lourdes, out where they live in Via Galaxia, when the boy was five years old. Luisito took to the sport so naturally that he graduated from Lulu’s small pool to the larger swim program at Montfort. In only three years’ time Luisito was able to develop the technique, strength and endurance to complete the Travesía Anual. During the event Dad rode in a kayak beside Luisito, and had to stay at least 10 meters away from his son at all times.

The swim club people are very open and inviting. Knowing of my interest, they invited us to their Christmas posada, which we were unable to attend, and then again invited Greg and I to attend this month’s competencias, during which everyone who wants to swim and get timed can do so and track their progress from the month(s) before. We met people from 7 to 70+, all happy and fit as fiddles. We met triathletes, multi-generational families of swimmers, groups of friends, and people who’d been swimming in the bay for over 50 years! What a good-natured bunch of interesting people! Click on any of the below to see a slideshow or captions.

Friends…
Father and sons…
Young…
And young at heart…
Encouraging one another…
Teaching one another…
People who’ve spent a lifetime on this beach
A grandson of the club’s founder
Teenagers…
And adults of all ages..
Together, enjoying life.
Friends, and fitness.

What is the Club de Natación Playa Norte?

The Club de Natación Playa Norte is one of Mazatlán’s oldest and most organized community groups. It will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2013! You see the clubhouse on the beach in Playa Norte, just north of the gymnastics equipment and the skateboard park. We have walked by the club nearly every morning for five years, and at that early hour of the day it’s always a hotbed of activity and excitement. We’ve noticed the man holding the keys on a board of hooks, the people milling around in wet swimsuits, someone eating ceviche for breakfast, some people showering… Click on any of the photos below if you’d like to see them bigger, see the captions or slideshow.

Amazingly and fortunately for Mazatlán, this “little club” puts on TEN monthly competitions, an Aquatic Marathon (in September), and two big travesías in addition to the Travesía Anual a la Isla de Venados.

The club is incredible. It is run by an elected Comité. The Presidente for the past three years has been Martín, the man with the stop watch in the photos. The club originally started as a cycling club at a location further south, and evolved into the swim club at its current location. Annual dues are only 200 pesos. For that amount you receive an identification card, and you are welcome to use the facilities (including toilets and showers) as often as you wish. Your backpack of things and your car keys are watched over by Pancho, who welcomes members’ tips. The deal is that you show up in the early morning, ready to swim. If you don’t show; no worries. If your teacher isn’t there, someone else will help you. If you’re an experienced ocean swimmer, you teach someone newer to the sport. The club seems to be quite the idyllic self-organizing system! We observed that young children are closely supervised by older swimmers, both teenagers and experienced adult teachers. Among the many local swimmers this morning we also met two extranjeros: Fran Ittner, from Minneapolis, who has been part of the Club de Natación since 2000 (and has wintered in Mazatlán for 26 years), and “Tío Sam,” a most interesting South Korean gentleman who has lived in Mazatlán for three years. Fran told us that if you want to learn more about the club or the Travesía, just drop him a note.

Each year members select one person to be honored for their assiduous participation in the club—and they name that year’s Travesía Anual after them. In 2010 it was named after Lulu, Luisito’s swim teacher.

So What Was the Event This Morning?

As I said, ten times a year the club conducts competencias, or trials, which we observed this morning. Since the Triathlon is next week, there were a few more participants than usual this morning, I was told. Club members who wanted to participate in the trials showed up just before 8:00 am. They registered and received a t-shirt. They had a number written onto their upper arms.

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Today’s participants lined up for an official photo. Then a new triathlon team from ETI had their photo opp. After everyone stripped out of their official t-shirts, the adults lined up for their trial. Three buoys had been set out in the ocean, and Martín gave instructions that swimmers were to make a loop around the outside of the three buoys. A couple of the guys interpreted for Fran, so he would know the route. One of the men we met went out in a kayak to supervise, ready to provide emergency assistance if needed. Participants swam only one lap around the buoys today; we were told this was because the water is still so cold. There were quite a few people standing around who didn’t swim today, and told us they only swim from April, when the water is warmer.

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After the adults, next up were the young children, 7-10 years old or so. There were only two buoys for the kids’ trial, and they were brought in closer to shore. Martín assigned a strong teenaged swimmer to each of the younger children, and instructed them to stay close by in case the younger ones needed help. What a way to build responsibility and community! Then the kids were off. There were some tears shed at the conclusion of this trial, because the youngest swimmer lost a tooth while he was out. He was heartbroken, because he was afraid the ratón wouldn’t bring him money since he didn’t have the tooth that had fallen out! It was just too cute.

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While the Club has well over 100 members, today there were far more observers than swimmers, I think. Grandparents, parents, cousins, friends—whole groups showed up to cheer on their friends and family members. There were some women selling food and drinks: fresh fruits and cut vegetables, sandwiches, bolillos, cake. The Club itself had a crate of bananas and a bunch of bottles of water for all the participants to snack on after their heat. It was a fun social event.

I urge you, if you’re at all interested in swimming, to give the Club a try. If you want to take lessons or get involved, the best way is to show up at the clubhouse, ideally in the morning around 6:00 or 7:00. At the least, visit them for their next competencias. The group has a Facebook page that is administered by Rogelio Fontes, but Rogelio tells me he only logs in to upload photos, as he’s not a big Facebook user. To get an email response you can contact natacion.playanorte@gmail.com, or Rogelio’s office telephone is (669) 913-4900 (he speaks perfect English, graduated from UC Berkeley).

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An update and adaptation of this post was printed in M! Magazine in November, 2015, under the title, “Splish Splash.”

History of the Lighthouse in Photos

DSC_0057Do you love the lighthouse as much as I do? Love how the seasons change, different animals and plants are at their best every couple of weeks? Do you enjoy the view of the city from up there—sometimes so clear, other times gorgeously hazy, and sometimes socked in with fog? Do you love the people who hike up, and the exercise and fresh air it provides?

This morning was a wonderful event up top of the lighthouse. The Movimiento Ciudadano Rescate al Faro group, to which I’ve belonged for a couple of years, opened a special photo exhibit. I knew about it because Irving Fregoso, the group’s organizer, asked me five or six weeks ago to translate the Spanish into English, so that the exhibit could be bilingual. It seems there was no money for the exhibition; all had to be volunteer. In addition to the historic photos, there were gorgeous photos of animals and plants donated by our own Alwin van der Heiden. It is a beautifully simple exhibit, and if you are at all interested in the history of Mazatlán or our beloved faro, you definitely should hike up and check it out. Great to know when the port was officially opened, the various stages of the lighthouse, and the old photos of the Lens are spectacular! The exhibit is along the wall of the lighthouse building, under the awning. A few photos of it are in the slideshow below, to whet your appetite and motivate you to go see the exhibit.

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Prior to the ribbon cutting for the exhibit, there were dozens of young people, including students from CONALEP, cleaning up trash. Members of the Asociación de Guias, the city’s official tourist guides, were also in attendance. They were along the ocean front, on the path, and all over the top of the hill. They picked up trash, they painted over graffiti, and they made the place look great. The Rescatemos al Faro group has organized several cleanups now, but this is the most well-attended event I’ve seen. I am glad to see it growing in popularity and support. Thank you all immensely! Such cleanups are a never-ending job and we are grateful to you!

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1.DSC_0087The ribbon-cutting that opened the photo exhibit was attended by several dignitaries: a young representative of the Governor’s Office, a representative from the port authority/API, the wife of the Secretary of Tourism, a representative of the Mayor’s Office, and our Diputado and probably soon-to-be mayor, Carlos Felton. It was great to see them there; we need political support to improve our Faro recreation area.

1.DSC_0080So, what was the really great part of the ceremony? Davíd Escobar, the architect, and the Rescate al Faro team presented an official proposal to all those officials! Hooray! They took advantage of the visionary words being uttered in those speeches this morning, and came through with a concrete plan of action. Fingers crossed!

The really gorgeous morning for me was couched, however, in a mini-culture-shock. Not that it’s surprising or unusual, but it’s a side of my México lindo y querido that I just don’t like. Here were all these volunteers—kids and adults, spending hours cleaning up an area that we all enjoy. Here was the volunteer group, Rescate al Faro, which has done so much for a couple of years now to raise awareness of the importance of this recreational area in our community. And, somewhere around but no where to be seen, was Irving, a young worker in the Secretaría de Turísmo, who seemingly organized all of this. He told me later he was busy tying up trash bags at the bottom of the hill during the ceremony, and couldn’t make it up in time to see it. So, the scene is one of lots of very passionate volunteers, making a difference in their community.

Irving Fregoso with yours truly this morning

Irving Fregoso with yours truly this morning

During the speeches that preceded the ribbon cutting, the dignitaries talked and talked, sharing their vision, but no one really thanked the citizen volunteers in attendance! I know there is a Mexican dignity in not expecting acknowledgement, but it was hard for me to watch it not extended. Irving, who got this whole effort going, organized the event this morning, and then didn’t even get to see its grand opening, was not acknowledged. No one mentioned the historian who put the exhibit together, or the photographers whose works were represented. I did count four times that official remarks mentioned the difficulty of the climb. A member of the Rescate al Faro group had to interrupt the proceedings in order to be able to present their proposal, even though they’d made this all happen. Today was the Governor’s Office debut of their Agente de Cambio campaign, yet it glorified the sponsors and the politicians rather than the doers—rather than the on-the-ground agents of change. Come on, Mazatlán, we can show more appreciation than this! We are all in this together! Maybe today might serve to get some of these dignitaries more engaged in the El Faro effort; that would be fantastic. I did witness Carlos’ joy as he was able to run down in seven minutes. Ok, gringa rant finished for now. I get it’s a cultural difference. And I get that politicians everywhere are, well, politicians.

None of the usual daily lighthouse climbers were at the event this morning. Greg and I really missed seeing our cohorts. Next time perhaps the group should post signs announcing such an exhibition or event, so that the “regulars” plan to attend. We asked Carlos, the lighthouse keeper, about it a couple of times, and he had no idea it was about to happen.

It was an absolutely beautiful clear morning here. The views were spectacular. Our citizens showed up in droves to clean public areas. We have a gorgeous historical photo exhibit, done for free and open to the public for free. All in all, wonderful for Mazatlán. Be sure to hike up and take a look! Final slide show of the view, below.

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Link to a story on this event in the Noroeste.